The Amanda Knox Story (2011)
Directed by Robert Dornhelm
Written by Wendy Battles
Starring Hayden Panattiere, Marcia Gay Harden, Vincent Riotta
Release Date February 21st, 2011
Published February 21st, 2011
Lifetime debuts their Movie of the Week "The Amanda Knox Story" an allegedly fact based drama on the case of an American student charged with the murder of her British born roommate while they lived in Perugia, Italy. While this type of ripped from the headlines melodrama is par for the Lifetime, movie of the week course, the network is irresponsibly cashing in on this story at a crucial moment in the real life of Amanda Knox.
In November of 2007 the body of Meredith Kercher was found, throat slit and stabbed multiple times on the floor of her bedroom in a student apartment in Perugia, Italy. The natural suspects in this case would be her roommate and the various people who made their way into the apartment, friends, boyfriends, aquaintances.
The suspect that emerged immediately for Italian prosecutors was Meredith's roommate Amanda Knox, a 20 year old from Seattle living it up in Italy. With her Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, Knox did herself no favors in the wake of Meredith's death allowing little quirky behavior and an inconsistent alibi to cast a suspicious pall over her.
While Amanda's actions fairly brought some suspicion upon her the physical evidence of the case and especially the forensic evidence demonstrate Knox's innocence. Knox's fingerprints nor footprints were found in Kercher's bedroom. DNA, blood, footprints, and fingerprints, of a third suspect, Rudy Guede were found at the scene while peripheral evidence, such as a kitchen knife from Knox's apartment was found at Sollecito's apartment; leading prosecutors believe the knife was being hidden.
Regardless of the physical evidence Amanda Knox was found guilty by a corrupt Italian justice system which used the media to sell their case. Prosecutors tainted the jury pool by framing Knox as a loose party girl who, with her glamorous Italian boyfriend, murdered Kercher in sex games gone wrong. They released videos showing Knox's admittedly callous seeming reaction to Kercher's death while a conspiratorial media latched on to the sordid elements of the story with the intent of selling papers.
Now the Lifetime cable network is weighing in with "The Amanda Knox Story." Starring Heroes star Hayden Panattiere, "The Amanda Knox Story" is an allegedly fact based recounting of Knox's murder trial that until recently featured a graphic recreation of Kercher's murder as prosecutors claimed it happened.
This malicious and irresponsible film, which I have not seen, comes at a time when Knox's appeal is about to be heard in an Italian court. The timing could not be worse as the media was used in the original trial to manipulate jurors, potential retrial jurors will be exposed to "The Amanda Knox Story" which is based on court records from a case that sketchy throughout and media accounts which were malicious, salacious and prejudicial.
Meanwhile, the makers and stars of "The Amanda Knox Story" continue to make claims of objectivity and fairness. For her part, star Hayden Panattiere refused to meet Amanda Knox and tells interviewers that she goes back and forth about whether she believes Knox was guilty of the murder, ignoring the exculpatory forensic evidence.
How exactly can a movie of the week based on the court records of a botched murder trial and prejudicial media reports claim objectivity and pretend to be unbiased. The facts are that merely bringing to life the murder of Meredith Kercher, as this movie did until it was edited out just prior to air, makes the film biased. It sets the scene and creates the false memory of Knox as a murderer and physically dramatizes what was until now merely a story crafted by prosecutors.
The level of irresponsibility on the part of Lifetime is off the charts. The network could have, at the very least, waited a few months until the completion of the appeal to try to cash in on the death of Meredith Kercher and the destruction of the young life of the wrongly accused Amanda Knox. Sadly, restraint in the face of profits is not the strong suit of a modern American corporation.
Lifetime should be ashamed. The life of Amanda Knox hangs in the balance as they weigh their balance sheets.
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